Historical Organization

Communist Party of South Africa

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South Africa 📍 South Africa

Communist Party of South Africa

Also known as: CPSA, SACP

Details

Organization Timeline

The Communist Party of South Africa is founded

📅 29 July 1921

Socialist organizations united in Cape Town to form the CPSA. The party later adopted a Black-majority orientation and became an important ally of national liberation and labour movements.

African mineworkers launch a mass strike

📅 12 August 1946

About 60,000 to 76,000 Black miners struck for higher wages and better conditions. Police and troops violently suppressed the week-long action, killing and injuring workers.

Police kill protesters during the May Day strike

📅 1 May 1950

The ANC, Communist Party and trade unions called workers to stay home for political rights and against repression. Police killed at least eighteen people in clashes on the Witwatersrand.

The Communist Party dissolves before it is banned

📅 20 June 1950

Facing the Suppression of Communism Act, the CPSA dissolved publicly. Members later reorganized underground as the South African Communist Party.